Folks grumble, but trucks still rumble in Bloomfield

Action on diverting the big rigs from Main Street was tabled by the Bloomfiled Village Board.

Morgan Wesson

A packed crowd debated bumping heavy trucks off Bloomfield’s Main Street last week, but it was not to be.

The village board did not take a vote on the matter. Mayor Dan Kwarta made a motion to amend a 1996 law to ban trucks, but no trustee seconded the motion. After the meeting, even Kwarta said he would have voted no.

The discussion on truck traffic came about after village resident Lyn Eaton filed a petition showing 75 percent of Main Street residents favored evicting heavy trucks off Main Street.

In the mid 1990s, the state widened the portion of Main Street from Route 444 to Route 64 on the west side of the village. Albany then traded jurisdiction over this road for ownership of a north-south secondary road, Route 444. That trade gave the village a toughened, wider Main Street designed for big rigs, plus authority to kick them off the mostly residential street if traffic got out of hand.

The surrounding town of East Bloomfield also made out well, as New York picked up the tab for maintaining Route 444.

Last week’s public initiative to ban Main Street heavy trucks was the second unsuccessful effort in as many decades, but it may help prod the state Department of Transportation to review traffic safety in the region.

Both sides were livid over speed enforcement. Dale Lovejoy offered his property on the crest of a hill to state police and sheriff's deputies for speed patrol.

“I tell them, I’ll tie the dog up and I’ll leave you coffee and doughnuts,” said Lovejoy. “They’re absent, pal!”

Five law enforcement officers live on nearby Whalen Road in East Bloomfield, which, insists Lovejoy, makes it unforgivable.

Village Board members took the middle of the road: “We as a village or a town board have no power whatsoever to enforce,” said Trustee Mark Falsone.

“There are two different issues here. There’s the weight issue, and there’s the speeding issue,” saidd Deputy Mayor Clayton Barnard.

But if Main Street were off limits, trucks might head south on Route 444, called Maple Avenue in the village, to what many feel is a dangerous intersection with Routes 5 and 20 to pick up Route 64.

“My question is, is that the next place you’ll put weight restrictions, on Maple Avenue?” asked Todd Hawkins of 2840 Route 444.

“We can’t, by law.” answered Mayor Dan Kwarta.

“Then if this goes through, you're just kind of ignoring the people on Maple Avenue,” observed Hawkins.

Some discussion surrounded banning the devices called jake brakes, that use truck engines with attendant noise to brake a heavy truck, annoying sleepers early in the morning and late at night.